Most of the Hispanics of Mexican origin living now in the US were actually born in the US, a new study has revealed. This is partly the result of the slowdown in recent years of the inflow of immigrants from Mexico. Still, Mexico remains the largest single source country of immigrants to the US, and Mexicans account for the largest number of illegal immigrants to the US.
A new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center, released on 1 May, reveals that in 2012 there were 33.7m Hispanics of Mexican origin in the US. Apart from being a new record, a notable feature of the statistics is that nowadays 35% of Hispanics of Mexican origin were born in Mexico; the remaining two-thirds (65%) were born in the US (52% of them having at least one immigrant parent).
The Pew study notes that the size of the Mexican-origin population in the US has risen dramatically over the past four decades as a result of one of the largest mass migrations in modern history. In 1970, fewer than 1m Mexican immigrants lived in the US. By 2007 it reached a peak of 12.5m. Since then, it has declined as the arrival of new Mexican immigrants has slowed significantly.
From 1980 to 2000, most of the growth in the Mexican-origin population in the US could be attributed to the arrival of Mexican immigrants. That pattern reversed from 2000 to 2010 as births surpassed immigration as the main driver of population growth.
The 11.4m Mexican immigrants who live in the US make up the single largest country of origin group by far among the nation's 40m immigrants. The next largest foreign-born population group, from greater China at 2m, is less than one-fifth the size of the Mexican-born population in the US. Internationally, the US is far and away the top destination for immigrants from Mexico.
Mexican immigrants comprise by far the largest share of the unauthorized immigrant population in the US. More than half (55%) of the 11.1m immigrants who are in the country illegally are from Mexico.
Other findings of the study:
▫ Two-thirds of Mexican-origin Hispanics ages 5 and older speak English proficiently. The remaining 34% report speaking English less than very well, equal to the share among all Hispanics. About nine-in-ten native-born Mexicans aged 5 and older speak English proficiently. This compares to about one-in-three among Mexican immigrants.
▫ The median annual personal earnings for Hispanics of Mexican origin aged 16 and older was US$20,000 in the year prior to the survey, the same as for US Hispanics overall. US-born Mexicans had higher earnings than their immigrant counterparts — a median of US$22,000 vs US$$19,000 respectively.
▫ The share of Mexicans who live in poverty, 27%, is slightly higher than the rate for Hispanics overall (25%). US-born Mexicans are slightly less likely to live in poverty than their foreign-born counterparts —26% vs 29% respectively.
▫ More than half (52%) of Mexican-origin Hispanics live in the West, mostly in California (36%), and another 35% live in the South, mostly in Texas (26%). There is no significant difference in the regional dispersion of Mexicans by place of birth.
▪ The full version of the study is available at: http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/05/01/a-demographic-portrait-of-mexican-origin-hispanics-in-the-united-states/
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